The vast majority of fuels are distilled from crude oil pumped from limited underground reserves. As the earth's crude oil supplies are depleted, the world-wide demand for energy is simultaneously growing. Over the next ten years, depletion of the remaining world's easily accessible crude oil reserves will lead to a significant increase in cost for fuel obtained from crude oil.
The search to find processes that can efficiently convert renewable materials to fuels suitable for transportation and/or heating is an important factor in meeting the ever-increasing demand for energy. Methods and systems for efficiently converting carbon-based feedstocks such as biomass into liquid fuel are needed. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides various advantages over the prior art.